Russia is set to continue its campaign of meddling in foreign elections by targeting the congressional midterm races in America, the head of the CIA has warned.

FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe steps down early

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Mike Pompeo, the director of the agency, told the BBC he had not seen a “significant decrease” in Russian activity and his concerns extend to the House and Senate polls in November.

“I have every expectation that they will continue to try and do that but I’m confident that America will be able to have a free and fair election [and] that we will push back in a way that is sufficiently robust that the impact they have on our election won’t be great,” Pompeo said.

Quick guide

What are the Trump-Russia congressional inquiries?

Beyond Mueller

Three separate congressional committees are investigating Russian tampering in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign: the Senate judiciary and intelligence committees, and the House intelligence committee.

The committees have the power to subpoena witnesses and documents. The list of witnesses to have been interviewed so far is long, and includes Donald Trump Jr and Jared Kushner, as well as lesser figures such as former adviser Carter Page; Glenn Simpson, the co-founder of Fusion GPS, which commissioned the Steele dossier; and Ben Rhodes, the former Obama adviser.

Senate intelligence committee

The most aggressive of the three committees so far, with a reasonable appearance of bipartisanship. Republican chairman Richard Burr of North Carolina said in October that the question of potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives remained open. But Burr has also said the committee was not focused on “criminal acts” but a larger picture. The committee notably heard testimony from James Comey after the former FBI director was fired.

Senate judiciary committee

Hampered early on by partisan disagreement about the scope of its investigation, the committee has interviewed top witnesses including Donald Trump Jr and has taken a particular focus on the firing of James Comey. But the committee has deferred to Mueller in the investigation of Paul Manafort and has interviewed fewer witnesses than others.

House intelligence committee

Riven by partisan conflict, the committee appears to be on track to produce two reports – one from each party. Chairman Devin Nunes recused himself from the inquiry in March after Trump tweeted that Barack Obama had "tapp[ed] my phones" and Nunes, in an apparent attempt to defend the president, revealed that some communications involving Trump aides had been intercepted by US surveillance programs.

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The CIA concluded that Moscow interfered in the 2016 presidential election – leaking hacked Democratic communications and flooding social media with misinformation – but Donald Trump has repeatedly dismissed special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation as a “hoax” and “witch hunt”. The White House has been accused of not taking the Russian threat seriously and failing to adopt counter-measures.

Yet Pompeo, who is among Trump allies interviewed by Mueller, has walked this political tightrope with some success. He is said to be one of the president’s favourite cabinet members and has helped the CIA avoid the same level of controversy as the FBI. Loyal and combative, he has been touted as a potential secretary of state should Rex Tillerson step down.

In the BBC interview at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, Pompeo said he believes that, despite cooperation in counter-terrorism, Russia is primarily an adversary and there has been no significant reduction in Russian attempts at subversion in Europe and the US.

However, Pompeo also said Chinese efforts to exert covert influence over the west were as much of a concern as Russian subversion. He told the BBC the Chinese “have a much bigger footprint” to do this.

“Think about the scale of the two economies,” he said. “The Chinese have a much bigger footprint upon which to execute that mission than the Russians do.”

The US spy chief told the BBC countries could collectively do more to combat Chinese efforts to exert power over the west.

“We can watch very focused efforts to steal American information, to infiltrate the United States with spies – with people who are going to work on behalf of the Chinese government against America,” he said.

The former Tea Party Republican from Kansas also appeared to push back at reports that Trump has a short attention span and little patience for reading briefing documents. “We deliver nearly every day personally to the president the most exquisite truth that we know from the CIA,” he said. “He is very focused in the sense that he is curious about the facts that we present. He is curious in the sense he wants to understand why we believe them.”

Pompeo was also dismissive of Michael Wolff’s recent fly-on-the-wall book, Fire and Fury, which fuelled speculation about Trump’s mental health. “It’s absurd. I haven’t read the book. I don’t intend to. The claim that the president isn’t engaged and doesn’t have a grasp on these important issues is dangerous and false and it saddens me that someone would have taken the time to write such drivel.”

Among the gravest security challenges facing the White House and CIA is North Korea’s nuclear programme. Pompeo said: “We talk about him having the ability to deliver a nuclear weapon to the United States in a matter of a handful of months. Our task is to have provided the intelligence to the president of the United States that will deliver to him a set of options that continue to take down that risk by non-diplomatic means.”

Trump and senior officials are “mindful” of the fact that war could lead to massive destruction and loss of life, the director added, but “many things were possible” in scenarios for removing dictator Kim Jong-un or preventing him being able to launch nuclear missiles.

The president has notoriously taunted Kim with language such as “fire and fury” and “little rocket man”, raising fears that he could trigger a conflict through personal animus. But Pompeo insisted: “When you see this language that the president chooses to use, there are many audiences for it… and I assure you Kim Jong-un understands the message that America is serious.”